Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke spends big on land – as supporters cry out for transfer deals

Stan Kroenke has splashed out – but not on Arsenal players (Picture: Getty)

Arsene Wenger’s reluctance to splash out on a new striker comes less than 24 hours after Gunners principal owner Stan Kroenke spent millions of dollars on a plot of land which could provide a new home for his NFL team.

Kroenke has bought the land at Inglewood near Los Angeles, sparking intense speculation in California that he is to move the St Louis Rams back to Hollywood.

The deal was struck as Arsenal fans wailed about the Premier League club’s lack of business ahead of the transfer deadline.

The Rams left Los Angeles in 1994 and the 30-year lease on their current home in St Louis expires at the end of this year.

There have been negotiations to build a new stadium but the latest development paves the way for Kroenke to take the franchise back to the hugely lucrative television base in LA.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has revealed there have been no negotiations about moving the Rams from St Louis and approval would be needed by owners 24 of the 32 teams in the league for the switch to go ahead.

But so much revenue would be raised by any such move that it would be astonishing if it was not not given unanimous approval.

Kroenkie’s business group issed a statement which read: ‘While we can confirm media reports that we recently purchased land in Inglewood, as a private company we don’t typically discuss our plans for commercial or residential investment.

‘We have yet to decide what we are going to do with the property but we will look at all options, as we do with all our properties.’

Arsenal were expected to sign a striker during the transfer window but despite being linked to multiple attacking options, including Lazio forward Miroslav Klose, Schalker midfielder Julian Draxler, Real Madrid propsect Alvaro Morata and Juventus forward Mirko Vucincic, they failed to pull the trigger on any deal.

It means their Premier League title chances would suffer a massive setback if leading scorer Olivier Giroud was injured for any length of time.